Starship Hetalia
by SaltWaterRain
Summary: Space… The final frontier.  These are the voyages of the starship, Ebullient.  It's infinite mission: to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no personified country has gone before.
1. Chapter 1:  Introduction

**Space… The final frontier.**

**These are the voyages of the starship, Ebullient.**

**It's infinite mission: to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no personified country has gone before.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

**Introduction**

A light brown haired man with glasses sat in a large seat in the middle of the bridge, his bright blue eyes livid with excitement. His fingers twitched in anticipation as the huge starship they resided in, the U.S.S Ebullient, slowly pulled out of space dock.

"Stop twitching, you git." The sandy haired man standing near the chair seethed, his British accent evident. The obvious annoyance in his green eyes was shadowed slightly by his bushy eyebrows. "It's bloody irritating."

The other man grinned and laughed out loud. "I can't help it Arthur! I'm so excited! Can you believe it? Can you believe we're really doing this?"

The bushy browed man, Arthur, scowled. "No."

Another man, tall with pretty violet eyes and a pleased smile, walked forward and stood at the other side of the chair. "Why wouldn't you be excited? This is something most people only dream about." A thick Russian accent accompanied his words.

"I doubt most people would dream about having Alfred as their captain." Arthur pointed out, wagging a finger at the man seated in the chair.

"How come, dude? I am the hero, after all!" The glassed man, Alfred, exclaimed.

The green eyed man just turned away muttering something about "getting them all killed".

"All systems go!" An glowering Italian man announced from his position at the helm.

Alfred's ever present grin widened a little more, if that was even possible. "Are you ready, Mr. Ivan?"

Something flashed behind the Russians eyes. "Da, Captain."

The seated man shot out an arm, pointing directly ahead at the black screen dotted with sparkling white stars at the front of the bridge. "Warp drive, Mr. Antonio!"

"Aye aye, Sir!" The Spanish navigator cheered happily as he adjusted a lever on the helm in front of him. The stars on the screen began to stretch, then streak by as they entered warp speed. The ship went along smoothly, no different form their departure from space dock. The only variation being that every man and woman aboard the U.S.S Ebullient knew that they had a long, difficult, and thrilling journey ahead of them that would take them to dangerous far off places where they would constantly be put in the face of peril for the sake of discovery and exploration.

Alfred slouched back in his chair, grinning up at the British man next to him. "There now, that wasn't to hard, was it, Dr. Arthur?"

"If you need me, I'll be in sickbay." He replied sourly, turning his back to the bridge and walking up to the elevator in the back. The metallic doors opened automatically as he drew close and he stepped inside. "Sickbay." He instructed as the doors closed again and he disappeared from sight.

"He's so lame!" The captain whined to the other man left standing next to him.

The Russian man smiled softly. "The Doctor doesn't like space travel."

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Then what is he doing aboard the Ebullient?"

"Who knows, Sir? Maybe you should ask him." He answered, walking away and taking a seat at his post in front of one of the many computers that lined the walls of the bridge.

The glassed man smiled at the thought of heckling the obviously easily annoyed doctor. "I think I will, Mr. Ivan."

"Do we have a course, Captain?" Antonio asked from the helm.

"Yes, of course. Lay in a course to Jalua!" Alfred ordered, his attention once again back to captaining his ship. The Spaniard quickly went about punching coordinates on the computer screen in front of him.

"We should arrive in approximately 26 earth hours." The navigator informed as he finished laying out their course.

"Good!" The captain stated, then turned to address a longhaired blond man with a slight beard who was seated at communications. "Mr. Francis please address the entire ship and let them know of our arrival time."

"Oui, Captain!" The Frenchman complied, adorning a small earpiece with a headphone and microphone attached. He pressed a couple of buttons on the screen in front of him before putting a hand to the microphone and speaking into it. "A course has been laid in to Jalua and the Ebullient should arrive in about 26 earth hours."

"Thank you. Mr. Kiku, what is the current condition of Jalua?"

The small Japanese science officer spun around in his chair. "The planet Jalua is nearly half the size of earth and has a temperate climate. Most of forests are jungle and the people there are primitive and they lack significant technology such as gunpowder and effective medicine. They do, however, have large mineral deposits."

"And that's where we come in." Alfred pointed out. "The reason we are going to Jalua is to inspect their rocks and see if they are worthy of mining."

"Yes, Sir." Kiku confirmed, turning back to his post.

"And make friends, da?" Ivan pointed out, his lips curling up slightly in a smile.

"Yes. We must establish beneficial relations with the inhabitants of Jalua and, as always, avoid impacting their culture or civilization in any way." The Japanese man nodded in agreement.

"These dudes are humanoid, right?" "Hai." Stated the Japanese man. "And they are reportedly peaceful in nature."

"Right! In 26 earth hours our mission will truly began, as we beam down to the planet of Jalua!"

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: Jalua Part 1

**Space… The final frontier.**

**These are the voyages of the starship, Ebullient.**

**It's infinite mission: to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no personified country has gone before.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

**Jalua Part 1**

Alfred stared round-eyed at the screen in the front of the bridge. The screen showed a large round object, unmistakably a planet, slowly spinning in amongst the stars. It was mostly a green color, with a few swirls of white clouds and splotches of blue water. "Dudes! Look at that! That is the first planet we've encountered! The first one besides Earth!" Kiku nodded at his captain. "I just ran some tests and the data that was previously recorded appears to be accurate, sir." The captain grinned wildly. "Thank you Mr. Kiku!" "You have decided on a landing party, da?" Ivan inquired, removing the captain's attention from the small Japanese man to his larger more Russian self.

"Yes, of course. The landing party will contain Dr. Arthur, Mr. Francis, Mr. Kiku and I. The reports of the inhabitants of Jalua are that the people are peaceful, so I see no need to bring along any security personnel." "I will be staying with the ship then?" The larger man inquired. Alfred nodded. "Yeah, as you being my first officer and this being our first mission, I think it's best that the Ebullient has you aboard when I'm not." "Captain, we are now entering orbit." Antonio intervened from his place at the helm. The American spun around to watch the screen again, once more fidgeting with excitement. "Slow and steady, Mr. Antonio." "Si." The navigator agreed, reaching out to the buttons in front of him. Alfred sat in silence as the Ebullient drew closer to the planet. At the distance they were at now, it was evident that Jalua was much smaller than earth. Despite the size difference, the appearance of the planet was similar to earth. The only notable factor being that the planet was mostly land, whereas earth was mostly water. The starship moved closer to the planet and began to travel around it. Entering orbit was usually an easy maneuver, only complicated if something went wrong. Since starships couldn't land, only pull into space docs, they must enter orbit around the planet and reside there when they were visiting.

"Orbit secured." The Italian man sitting at the helm reported.

"Thanks, Mr. Lovino." Alfred s/hot out of his chair. "Mr. Ivan please take the bridge."

"Da." Ivan responded taking a seat in Alfred's now abandoned chair.

"Mr. Kiku, Mr. Francis, please accompany me as part of the landing party." The captain ordered, walking toward the automatic doors at the back of the bridge. Both men nodded in unison, got up from their respective seats, and followed to their superior. The metallic doors opened and the three men entered the elevator, the American happily waving goodbye to his men left on the bridge. "Transporter." He ordered as the doors closed. The elevator shot downwards, fast, but not at a pace that would unnerve anyone riding it. The ride wasn't long, and the elevator soon came to a stop, the automatic doors opening once again. Alfred led the small, partially assembled, landing party out of the elevator and down the long white halls. Metallic doors, the same as the elevator door, only red, lined the halls. They were far from alone, as the hallway was crowded with men and woman clad in the matching red, yellow, and blue Starfleet uniforms. They looked up briefly as they saw their captain pass by, before busily returning to their work.

"Aren't you so excited?" Alfred inquired happily, addressing the other two members of the landing party.

"Hai." Kiku said shortly.

"Oui! But we've been to other planets before, on training missions." Francis pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah! This is different though." The American retorted. "This isn't just some training mission programmed into a computer or monitored by instructors. This is real life! We're really out here exploring the universe!"

"But Jalua's been explored already." The Frenchman said simply.

"But not well." Kiku said pointedly. "Starfleet has only sent one ship there, and they could only stay for a short period of time due to an insufficient food supply."

"And on top of that there's so much more! There's the entire rest of the universe! All the stuff Starfleet has never seen! All the places they've never been!" They came to a larger grey door at the end of the hallway, and the captain stopped and faced the two men accompanying him. "This trip is something our ancestors never even dreamt about it was so impossible to them. This is the trip of a lifetime. Never will anything more fantastic ever happen to you!"

The door behind Alfred slid open, revealing an agitated Arthur. "If you're about done lolling about, it's high time you came inside so we can get on with this bloody assignment."

"Hey!" Alfred grinned at the Brit. "I'm the hero! I'm aloud to give motivational speeches!" He stepped inside the room, indicating for the other men to follow him.

"Good evening Captain, aru!" A Chinese man behind the transporter device greeted as the men entered the room.

"Thanks, Mr. Yao. Is the transporter functioning properly?" Alfred and the men walked past the device and onto the waiting transporter platform, each of them standing on individual transportation circles.

"Of course, sir." The Chinese man, Yao, surveyed the men waiting to be beamed down to the planet below. "All set, aru?"

Alfred too, looked around and checked out the men accompanying him in the landing party. There was the Doctor, Arthur, a man the captain had recently become rather well acquainted with, he was quick to anger and easily irritable. The Japanese man, science officer Mr. Kiku, was a man of little emotion yet high intelligence. He said only what was necessary, and when asked personal questions he would often dodge around answering. Communications officer, the Frenchman Mr. Francis, on the other hand, appeared to be a man of strong emotion. He would often waggle his eyebrows or wink, and add slight tidbits of affectionate French to his dialogue. Alfred saw himself in a simple light. He was purely the hero. And that was all there was to it. He felt confident and secure with that simple word as an adjective. He felt it described him perfectly, and no other was needed. "Ready!" He answered. "Beam us down, Mr. Yao!"

Yao smiled and began tweaking buttons on the transporter device. "Transporting." A computerized electrical sound resounded in the transporter room as the four men were enveloped in a radiating light. Their molecules visibly separated and vanished, soon to reappear on Jalua below.

~()()()()()~()()()()()~

Alfred waited impatiently for his particles to reassemble in the glowing light. In a few moments, the mechanical sound faded away and he felt whole once again. Immediately he sprang forward and fist pumped. "Woot! Awesome! I never get tired of that! So cool!"

"Shut it, you bloody wanker!" Arthur snapped, pulling out a small cylindrical device out of his pocket. It made a small tweetleing noise as he waved it slowly over his body. He quickly finished and let out relieved sigh. "Good, no missing parts…"

"You should be a bit more respectful towards your captain, mon chere." Francis intervened, waving a finger at the doctor.

The bushy browed man ignored the other and pointedly turned his back to him.

"Ah, Dr.-" The Frenchman was cut of by the interested tone in Kiku's voice.

"Look at these plants." He instructed. "They are most unusual."

"They look the same as any other plant to me." Said Alfred, puzzled.

"No. Watch." Kiku insisted. He stood before a short, leafy tree, with a thick stump. Slowly and cautiously he reached forward and poked the tree in the trunk. It flinched away from the touch, scooting back several feet, causing all the men present to jump.

"Bloody hell!" Arthur shrieked, pulling a phaser from his waistband and aiming it at the tree.

"No! No! Don't shoot, Arthur!" The American shouted, grabbing the Brit's arm.

"What's your problem? We have to show the natives love, remember, mon chere?" Francis insisted, turning his back to the other men in his group and turning to the plant with open arms. The tree did nothing holding still, as if it had never moved at all.

Alfred raised an eyebrow, unease evident in his features. "Dude, I think it's just a plant, not a person. It's probably just a species that moves."

The Frenchman now only inches away from the plant, turned around and faced the assembled group of men again. "Oh? Come on-" He was cut off as a fist shot out of the bush and collided hard with the back of his head, sending him to the ground. The other men tensed immediately, pulling their phasers from their belts and aiming at the tree. Nothing. The arm hung limply from the trunk, it was tan, as if it spent most of it's time in the sun, and not in the inside of a tree. Francis sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Merde…" He looked from his comrades, stiff and weapon ready, then turned to face the tree behind him, frowning. "It hit me!"

A loud screeching filled the previously calm forest atmosphere as the arm on the tree began flailing wildly. Suddenly, it wasn't only the arm that was flailing, but the entire tree. And then there wasn't one arm, but two, and then a leg was added to the bunch. The previously rough bark began to smooth out into a tan skin tone, combining with the limbs present. The tree seemed to melt, becoming softer as it changed shape. It transformed from thick and straight, to something more curved and shapely. A few seconds later, there was no tree at all, but a person. A woman, with tanned skin and dark green hair. Her deep brown eyes were filled with rage, and she launched herself onto Francis.

"Don't shoot!" The captain ordered. "You'll hit Mr. Francis! He'll have to hold his own."

The attacked man did in fact, hold his own. The pair tumbled around on the ground for a short while, the girl screeching all the while, but it wasn't long before Francis had the girl pinned to the ground, his hands with a firm grip on her wrists and his legs straddling her hips. He quickly blew a wayward strand of golden blond hair from his eyes and cracked a sly grin. The woman snarled, but otherwise remained submissive.

The other men visibly relaxed, lowering their weapons ever so slightly. Arthur walked closer to the pair, glowering down at the strange native. "What in god's name is your problem?"

"Who are you men?" She screeched, her high voice and thick unnamable accent was alien and foreign, but still decipherable. "Tell me now, strangers!"

"You're a woman!" Francis declared eagerly, shamelessly raking her body with his invasive blue gaze. She was wearing very little, a grass skirt and top made of leaves.

"Knock it off!" Arthur demanded, striking the indecent man in the side of the head with the butt of his phaser.

"Merde!" The injured man yelped, shaking his head furiously. "Stop hitting me!"

"Then stop molesting the bloody natives!" The Brit demanded, waving his phaser dangerously at the still crouching man.

"Chill, Doc!" Alfred ordered, crouching down next to the girl. "We didn't mean to offend you. We come in peace, we will release you if you promise not to attack us again." The native sneered at the men, but slowly nodded.

"Captain…" Kiku warned slightly, readying his phaser yet again.

"Relax, dude. These folks are soposed to be friendly, right?" The American grinned, briefly deterring his attention from the girl to the cautious man beside him.

"Yes, but-" The captain cut the Japanese man off.

"Then all we need to do is ask her to show us their rocks and them it's mission complete!"

"Captain-"

"Relax! I'm the hero!" He turned back to the girl on the ground, signifying the conversation ended. "Get of her, Mr. Francis." The Frenchman reluctantly complied, standing up and offering a hand out to the native woman. She ignored it and instead hoisted her own self off the ground.

Kiku stepped closer to her, but still kept a wary distance. "I am sorry we offended you. Where we come from, living things do not take the form of plants. Please forgive our ignorance."

"Who are you?" She demanded once again. "Why did you appear so suddenly? Where did you come from?"

"We're from Starfleet. We beamed down here." Alfred pointed at the sky. "Our ship is up there."

The woman looked surprised. "Are you the Promised One's?"

Alfred grinned, genuinely curious. "Promised Ones…?"

"Yes! Oh, how could I not see it sooner? I beg for your forgiveness, my lords." The girl dropped to her knees, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Would you please allow me to take you to my chief?"

"You don't have to-" The doctor cut off the captain before he could correct the native.

"Wait a minute, Alfred." He whispered to the other. "If they think that we're the "Promised Ones" then we're a hell of a lot more likely to have beneficial relations with them, right?"

"We can't trick them though, Doc, it's not right!" The captain whispered back harshly. "We'll just tell them the truth and hope they still treat us well."

"Treat us well? She just attacked us!" The Brit hissed in annoyance.

"That was just a misunderstanding." Alfred insisted, brushing Arthur away. "The reports say they are friendly, remember?"

The doctor grumbled and nodded, frustrated by his captains lack of sense.

"We're not the Promised Ones." The American man announced, reaching down to the woman. "You don't need to-"

"Please!" The greed haired woman shot up from the ground. "You mustn't taint your flesh by touching mine!"

"But, I wouldn't be-"

"I will take you to my leader now." She promised, bowing low once more before turning her back to the men and disappearing into the thick jungle-like foliage.

Alfred hesitated slightly, then addressed his men. "Follow her."

"Sir, I don't think that is a good idea." Kiku warned. "She intends to take us to her leader. There will no doubt be armed men guarding him."

"We would need to meet him anyway as part of our mission. I think it's best that we go there on friendly terms. We can straighten all this out when we meet him." The captain assured, leading his men after the native.

The jungle was thick and green. There were several tall trees towering high into the sky before branching out with long leafy limbs. In between those were shorter more closely knit trees with large smooth leaves that easily dwarfed any commonly found on earth trees. Spongy moss-like growth blanketed the ground and long tangling vines draped from the trees. Every once and a while they would pass a short thickly trunked tree the same as the one their green-haired escort had transformed from. They saw no animals, but bird-like calls could be heard in the distance and tracks mapped the earth under their feet. After several long minutes of treading silently through the forest the plant growth seemed to grow more sparse, fading away to a shaggy rich green grass. It wasn't long afterwards that they had left the jungle altogether and they were following a single well tread path through a flat grassy field. The field was completely bare except for the lone trail that cut a straight line through it and several brightly colored small flowers.

"We will arrive shortly." The green-haired girl announced without turning around. "I'm sorry for the long walk."

"Ah! Don't worry about it! We are all able bodied men." Francis reassured, quickening his pace to walk beside the native.

"Francis!" Arthur protested, quickening his pace to catch up to the Frenchman.

"Relax, mon chere!" He smiled wide. "I will walk next to you next time."

The agitated British man gritted his teeth. "You know bloody well that wasn't what I meant! Leave that girl alone!"

"I'm not-" The flirtatious man was interrupted as the native woman stopped suddenly.

"We're here, my lords." She announced. They had come to the edge of the meadow, but instead of the thick leafy forest they had left so recently, the trees here were growing farther apart. Instead of shorter leafier trees growing in between there were several small huts made of branches with grass roofs. In amongst the huts and trees several more tan skinned people milled about. They all had the varying shades of green hair and simple clothing made out of leaves. "Please allow me to lead you through my village and bring you to my leader."

"We appreciate all you are doing for us." Kiku reassured, nodding at the girl to continue.

"It is nothing compared to the sacrifice you will make." She frowned shaking her head, her deep brown eyes grave.

Alfred and his crew exchanged quick panicked glances. "What do you-" The captain was cut of by a loud voice form behind.

"Marjita! Who are these men?" A large, well built man, clad only in a grass skirt, ran up to the group still standing on the outskirts of the primitive village. His bright green hair hung in tangled clumps in front of his pale brown eyes. The man came to stop next to the girl.

"Doren." The girl, Marjita, greeted, reaching out for his hand. The man took it and wound their fingers together. "These are the Promised Ones." The excitement in her previously grave eyes was startling change.

A wide, toothy grin cracked the man's, Doren's, face. "That's wonderful!" He dropped to his knees and bowed the same as Marjita had earlier. "We will be forever grateful for your sacrifice. Your deaths will bring us much peace."

Alfred stared wide eyed at the bowing man before him. Deaths? He jumped slightly as Arthur tugged on his sleeve. "Told you so!" The Brit hissed angrily. "Now what, Alfred?"

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED…<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: Jalua Part 2

**Space… The final frontier.**

**These are the voyages of the starship, Ebullient.**

**It's infinite mission: to explore strange, new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no personified country has gone before.**

**Chapter Three**

**Jalua Part 2**

"I got this." Alfred insisted, shrugging Arthur off of him. He was panicked. These people had something terrible planned for his men. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that there was no way he would let them carry it out. "Take me to your chief." He demanded of the two green-haired natives in front of him.

"Of course, my lord." Doran replied, standing up from his bow. He and Marjita once again began to lead the landing party. They walked through the village of small huts, every once and a while a curious native would cast them a sideways glace, sometimes whispering excitedly to someone near them. As they neared the center of the village a large hut, at least three times as large as the others, came into view. Instead of sticks and grass this one was made of mud, with intricate swirls and designs carved and painted into the thick walls. Instead of the usual grass roofs, large logs laid across the top of the building. As they drew closer, Marjita and Doran lead them through a single large archway with only a leaf curtain to act as a door. The inside of the hut was decorated the same as the out side, except for a long grass rug that stretched the length of the single large room and the trees that grew out of the ground and lined the walls. At the end was a large throne built of sticks and leaves intertwined, and upon that rested an old man. His tangled green hair was streaked with white, as was his long beard. His clothing was also made of plant life, but it was far more extravagant then the clothing of the other natives. The vines and grasses that made up his outfit were braded and tied and he wore a large cape of leaves of different shades.

"Young peasants… Why have you brought these strangers to my midst?" The king asked, his voice equally as strangely pitched and accented as the other two.

Marjita and Doran bowed before the old man as they had the landing party. "Chief, I encountered these men while out hunting this morning." The woman declared, rising back up from the floor. "They appeared suddenly, in a beam of light."

The chief's eyes widened. "Are you saying…?"

"Look at their cloths." Doran pointed out. "And their hair and skin. They couldn't possibly be normal."

"You are correct, young ones." The chief declared, a small smile forming on his old lips. "These men are, without a doubt, the Promised Ones."

"Wait a minute." Alfred cut in, taking a step towards the chief. "We aren't the Promised Ones."

The old man frowned. "No?"

"I'm Alfred F. Jones, captain of the U.S.S. Ebullient. These other dudes here are members of my crew. Starfleet sent us to establish good relations with you guys in return for your rocks."

The old man grinned, showing off aged and poorly kept teeth. "I see. You are not aware that you are the Promised Ones."

"Wha-" The old man cut Alfred off.

"You have come here for the Rocks. It was promised long ago in our history that a group of strange men would arrive on Jalua in glowing light and sacrifice themselves to the Rocks, forever granting us peace."

"Now you listen here!" Arthur insisted, pointing a finger at the chief. "We are not the Promised Ones! And we won't be dying for any of you!"

The chief rose from his chair. "My people have dreamt of peace for many years. We will not allow this to slip by. We will use force if necessary, but one way or another, you will die and there will be peace."

"Hey now! That is not very nice." Francis protested.

"We have no intention of dying." Alfred proclaimed. "If you wont befriend us, then we'll leave."

"No! you can't!" Marjita wailed, her eyes lived in panic. "We need you!"

Alfred grimaced. All instinct told him to stay and help these people, whatever their problem was. Despite his urges to help those less fortunate, his true duty was to the Ebullient, it's crew, and it's mission. He glanced sympathetically at the young woman. "There are other people that need us too. I'm sorry, you'll have to find someone else."

"There isn't anyone else! You-" Doran was cut of by the chief.

"Enough. You men are the Promised Ones. There is no option here other than help us or be forced to help us."

"We choose neither!" The captain insisted, then turned around. "We are going."

"No, you are not!" The chief yelled. "Guards!" At that call the tree's lining the walls of the hut began to tremble and morph into people in same way Marjita had. Seconds later the landing party was surrounded by tan skinned green haired men all holding wooden spears.

"Captain!" Kiku panicked. "We're completely surrounded and out numbered. What do we do?"

"Set phasers to stun and do your best to hold them off." Alfred ordered his men.

"Restrain these men!" The old man ordered. The natives lunged forward, spears aimed at the landing party. Alfred raised his phaser and shot the man nearest to him, the native slumped to the ground, unharmed but unconscious. A quick glance around betrayed that his comrades were not quite as lucky. Kiku had shot the man in front of him but was then tackled to the ground by another from the side. Francis was about to shoot the man attacking him, but the native jerked his spear forward and knocked his phaser out of his hand, leaving him defenseless and cornered. Arthur managed to take out a couple of them before being overwhelmed. There where too many, despite their superior technology, the landing party could not win. Alfred shot another native, then stumbled forward and dropped his phaser as a one latched onto his back from behind. He shook it off onto the ground, then turned around to face it, fist held high. He froze immediately, instead of one of the tan skinned men in front of him, there was Marjita, dark brown eyes wide with fear. He couldn't hit her, hero's didn't hit women. The American opened his mouth to say something, anything, that would make the situation better. He didn't get any words out, however, for as soon as he froze he was hit hard over the head. He hit the ground with a thump, trying desperately to blink away the darkness that was consuming his vision. He lost the battle quickly and slipped away into unconsciousness.

~()()()()()~()()()()()~

"C-Commander!" A blond man with glassed cried out in panic, whipping around from his place at one of the computers on the side of the bridge.

"Da? What is it, Mr. Eduard?" Ivan answered, smiling pleasurably.

"I've lost their signals!"

"What?" The ever present smile slipped away from the Russian's face.

"Their signals! They were there, and then they weren't!"

"I can confirm that, Sir." The man with long brown hair sitting next to Mr. Eduard stated, entering the conversation. "Since landing their signals have moved from their landing point to about a mile away, where they stayed for a short period of time, then they suddenly disappeared."

"Thank you, Mr. Toris." Ivan then turned to a small young man only a couple of feet away at another computer. "Mr. Raivis are there any disruptive sources that could be jamming our frequencies?"

"N-No Commander." He replied. "Nothing at all."

Ivan pressed a button on the arm of the captain's chair. "Engineering."

"Ja, Commander?" A man with a German accent responded through the intercom.

"Please confirm that our signal receivers are functioning properly."

"Just one second."

"Of course."

"Everything is in perfect condition and functioning normally, Sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Ludwig." The Russian released the button and pressed another. "Ebullient to landing party." He waited, along with the rest of the crew, mentally crossing their fingers. Nothing. "Ebullient to landing party." He released the button, turning to face the three men he had addressed earlier. "Please sweep the area they were in for their signals. If you don't locate them extend the search in a 20 mile radius. If even then you do not locate them extend the search radius another 20 miles and keep doing so until they are found."

"That will take hours! And what happens if we don't find them after all that?" Lovino intervened from the helm.

Ivan gave the Italian a small smile. "If they still haven't been located after that I will lead a second landing party down to the surface and demand the location of our captain and his men."

"And what if the natives prove to be violent?" Antonio asked, joining the conversation.

"We will address that situation if it arises."

~()()()()()~()()()()()~

"Leave him alone, mon amour." Alfred could hear Francis instruct, though he could not see the man for his world was still black.

"Shut up, you git. I'm a doctor, I know what I'm doing!" Arthur complained from some where close to Alfred's head. The captain blinked opened his eyes, wincing at the bright light that met him.

"W-What happened?" He demanded sitting upright, much to the painful protest from his head. He looked around, eyes wide with shock. "Where are we?" They were no longer in the brown mud hut or even in the forests, instead they were inside a large cave. The walls were jagged and even sharp in some places. They were made of a strange glistening sparkly rock that seemed to light up the whole space. The ceiling was tall and the cave was round, probably 20 feet across. There was a single opening to the cave, a roughly carved hole in the wall that was currently blocked by a enormous boulder.

"We lost." Arthur grumbled ruefully. "They took our phasers, communicators, equipment, and all my medical supplies."

"Then they put us in this cave and blocked the door." Kiku elaborated. "You see these rocks? These are what we came here to investigate."

"Forget the bloody rocks! We're about to be sacrificed!" The British man snapped.

"Wait a minute." Alfred turned to Kiku. "The natives said they wanted to sacrifice us to the rocks, right?" The Japanese man nodded. "Then could these rocks be what their talking about?"

"I don't know. They are quite unusual though. I wish they hadn't taken my equipment, I want to take readings." He replied, reaching out and curiously poking the rock next to him. As if on signal the rocks around them began to shift, grinding and scraping as the walls slowly closed in on them. The men panicked and jumped up as the ceiling steadily grew closer. "What did you do?" Francis yelled, running over to the bolder blocking the door.

"Nothing! I swear! I just poked it!" Kiku insisted, joining the Frenchman at the boulder.

"Don't poke anything else! We can't stand anything else coming to life!" Alfred ordered, reaching the boulder.

"Shut up and push!" Arthur hissed, leaning on the large rock with all of his weight.

"It won't budge!" The Japanese man panicked.

"It's got to!" The captain encouraged. "There's no other way out!"

"Stop! Stop pushing!" Another voice ordered, barely audible over the grating of the moving rocks. Against better judgment, the men did as the voice instructed, stepping back from the boulder. The large rock slowly began to roll inward, out of the doorway. A strained grunting could be heard from the other side of the rock.

"Help them!" Alfred ordered, grabbing a hold of the rock and trying to pull it backwards. The other men did the same, putting back breaking effort into moving the boulder.

"A-Alfred!" Arthur yelled, pointing at the wall behind them, it was dangerously close now, only a few feet away. The boulder inched out of the opening, leaving a small space just large enough for a man to squeeze through.

"That's enough! Come on!" The captain ordered, pointing the opening out. Kiku went through it first, slipping through without a problem. Arthur went next, followed closely by Francis. Alfred ducked into the opening last, wincing as the jagged rocks tugged at his skin and uniform. He tumbled through the crevice and onto the stone ground outside of the shifting cave. After a final rock smashing jolt the grinding sounds stopped, and the men could hear the sounds of their ragged breaths. Alfred pulled himself off the ground and turned to catch a glimpse of their savior. He was shocked to see Marjita, leaning against the rock wall, chest heaving and brow dripping.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


End file.
